Arrest warrant issued against former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan

Former Pakistani skipper Imran Khan seems to have landed in troubled waters. On Thursday (September 14), the election commission of Pakistan issued an arrest warrant against the former cricketer. Imran, who turned politician after having quit cricket, sees himself in this precarious situation after having failed to appear before the court in a contempt case against him.

As per the recent reports in TOI, Imran Khan repeatedly failed to appear before the court. The Election Commission was conducting its hearing against Imran in a case that was filed by a dissident from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and one of the founders Akbar S Babar of the political institution. In his defence, the lawyer of Imran Khan, Babar Awan stressed on the fact that Imran was out of the country with some formal work.

He landed in Pakistan only a few hours ago. The counsel of the petitioner looked absolutely unimpressed by the propositions put forth by Babar Awan. He went on to counter the statement by saying that Imran has been disrespecting the institutions by failing to appear before it. If he had respected the institution, he would have surely been present at the court, argued the counsel of the petitioner.

“Had he (Imran Khan) respected the institutions, he would have been present here,” said the counsel, asking the commission to continue with the regular proceeding.

The timeline of events

Now, the Election Commission has issued the warrant against Imran and has asked him to appear before the court on September 25. Also, in order to avoid the arrest, Imran Khan will have to submit surety bond of Rs. 100000 until September 25. Earlier in the case, the commission had issued a show cause notice to Imran last month.

The show cause notice demanded the former cricketer to give a reply by the date of August 23. Meanwhile, Imran accused the Election Commission of being biased in the foreign funding case following which his counsel had tendered an apology with the commission.